Peter Wright goes away before seeing off Krzysztof Ratajski in Blackpool

Peter Wright overcame Krzysztof Ratajski in a thrilling draw to defend his World Match title by reaching the quarterfinals in Blackpool.

Wright, wearing a hypnotic vortex-themed shirt and matching head paint, opened in great form with a nine-dart chance on the fifth round, but hit singles 20 with his second throw. seven before checking out at number 11.

‘Snakebite’ came into full control after entering the period with a 4-1 lead – after testing 125 laps of the bullseye – soon expanded to 7-3, leaving only a 16. Ratajski world rallied with a foot run. pull him level.

The competition went on, with both players maxing out in the 18th first leg, before Ratajski – a semi-finalist 12 months ago – missed three darts at 36, which should have been the case. he will take the lead for the first time of the night.

With a chance to secure his throw-in victory, Wright hit two 180-degree throw-in – but couldn’t close his three chances as the Polish Eagle recovered to level 10- 10 and forced a draw.

Wright once again moved in victory and took down 58 to finally see off Ratajski 13-11 to move on for another win at the Winter Gardens.

However, James Wade’s hopes of winning another World Matchplay title came to an end after he was beaten 11-9 by Nathan Aspinall.

Wade, fifth on the PDC Order of Merit, got off to a brilliant start, opening 2-0 with an early break against Aspinall, two World Championship semi-finals, taking the next four.

There was still little between the pair, with ‘The Machine’ Wade gaining some momentum at 7-5 before a 13 from Aspinall forced the match once more.

The third maximum and 82 control saw Aspinall go on to win one inning by a score of 10-8 before getting the job done on the next throw.

In Tuesday night’s opening match, Dimitri Van Den Bergh, the 2020 champion, ended Austrian debutant Rowby-John Rodriguez’s race with an 11-6 win.

Rodriguez had a shocking result when he knocked out Welsh eighth seed Jonny Clayton in the opening round, but was defeated by his friend Van Den Bergh.

The Belgian averaged 98.62, hitting a six out of the box, and hit a good 146 payline to mark his win and a spot in the final eight matches where he will face with Wright.